Rim Banna - Voice of Resistance '2018

Tracks list

Rim Banna’s New Album: A conceptual piece of art blending her heroic
spirit of resistance, her defiant poetry and her medical scans with Checkpoint
303’s electronic beats and Bugge Wesseltoft’s edgy piano
improvisations.
With incredible determination and defiance, and despite her illness and the
paralysis in her vocal cords, Rim worked relentlessly on her new album and
managed to complete all the recordings in January 2018. Rim said that she wanted
this album to be powerful and defiant, neither sad nor melancholic…A
creative act of resistance in the face of injustice and occupation in all their
forms. This is Rim’s powerful statement celebrating her and her
people’s struggle against all foes and woes…always with a sign of
victory and a smile of hope.

Voice of Resistance: A concept album
The idea behind the album was born in May 2015, just after Rim was told by
doctors that her vocal cords were partially paralyzed and that she would not be
able to sing anymore. But…nobody tells Rim what she can or cannot do. Rim
met in Oslo with her Norwegian producer Erik Hillestad (KKV record label) and
Tunisian sound cutter “SC MoCha” from the electronic activist
collective Checkpoint 303. Together they came up with a plan for an
unprecedented audio experiment; Checkpoint 303 would remix data from
Rim’s medical files (PET and X-ray images) by converting them into sounds
to which Rim would then recite (and whenever possible sing) her own poems
describing her resistance and her struggle. The outstanding jazz pianist Bugge
Wesseltoft, who collaborated with Rim on her last album, immediately accepted to
be part of the project and the adventure began.

The album
The 15 songs on this album are an explosive mix of iron-willed and moving spoken
word, experimental sound art, complex beats and powerful provocative and
heart-warming piano melodies. In the final recordings completed in Oslo in
January 2018, Rim actually managed to sing on some of the songs despite her weak
vocal cords. Rim’s lyrics on the album range from being defiant and bold
to being heartbreaking and endlessly deep. However, her courage, humanity and
incredible positivity transpire from every word she pronounces.

The recording sessions
Rim Banna’s vocals were recorded by Erik Hillestad in the Edward Said
National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM) studio in Ramallah in 2017 and at
Kulturkirken Jakob in Oslo in January 2018. Bugge Wesseltoft’s piano was
recorded by Martin Abrahamsen in Oslo in January 2018. Checkpoint 303’s
sonifications, guitar recordings and electronic compositions were performed
between Tunis and Montreal in 2017 and early 2018.

Conversion of medical scans and images to sound:
An important novelty of the musical compositions of this album lies in the
transformation of Rim’s medical scans from two-dimensional images to
audible sound elements. This process known as “data sonification”
was programmed by Checkpoint 303 and applied to medical data chosen by Rim. The
data was recorded as part of the medical diagnostic procedures that Rim
underwent using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computer Tomography scans
(X-ray measurements). The scans used included cross-sectional images of
Rim’s chest, heart, brain and throat. Checkpoint 303 converted these
images into sound either by direct sonification of image pixel values into an
audible spectrum, or by converting the images into 2D midi files. Additionally,
two portrait images of Rim were also transformed to sound using the same
procedure. Finally, the ambient layer in the last song of the album was
constructed using the actual sound of the image-guided radiation system recorded
on video during one of Rim’s radiotherapy sessions in a hospital in
Berlin in 2016.

Rim Banna. Nothing stops Rim. Despite being diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and
with a paralysis of her vocal cords in 2015, the iconic Palestinian singer and
activist Rim Banna defiantly worked on her 13th album, while continuing to lend
her voice to the voiceless in her occupied homeland Palestine and across the
world. Rim’s art and existence are lessons in humanity, resistance,
justice and freedom. Rim passed away on March 24th 2018. May she rest in peace
and power. Web: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rim_Banna

Checkpoint 303. Using field recordings from Palestine and the Arab street,
Checkpoint 303 constructs soundscapes that weave cinematic audio with
experimental sound processing and complex beats. Through its electronic
compositions, collected sounds and noise, Checkpoint 303 spreads a message for
justice and human rights. Checkpoint 303 has opened for Massive Attack shows in
the UK and France. Web: http://www.checkpoint303.com

Bugge Wesseltoft. Bugge is a Norwegian jazz musician, pianist, composer and
producer. He is internationally recognized for his musical genius and unique
improvisation skills.

01. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - Language of Silence
02. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - A Rose in the Battlefield
03. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - Daughter of the Desert
04. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - Released
05. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - Deadly Music
06. Rim Banna, Bugge Wesseltoft, Checkpoint 303 - This Is My Voice
07. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - I Dont Care
08. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - The Last Cord
09. Rim Banna, Bugge Wesseltoft, Checkpoint 303 - Rim
10. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - My Dream of Road Roses
11. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - Ascending to the Sun
12. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - My Song Will Sound
13. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - Unable
14. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - Loving You
15. Rim Banna, Checkpoint 303, Bugge Wesseltoft - Maryam

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